


Feathers and Broken Chains

by Rhuckleberry



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: #Lucas Friar needs to take better care of his things, F/M, Katy Hart makes an appearance, Lucas' Mama is mentioned, OT5, Short stack of pancakes indeed, basically but they don't all play a very big role in this one tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4121313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhuckleberry/pseuds/Rhuckleberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt was: could you write a prompt about Lucas comforting Maya about being disappointed by her father or something and like she lets her guard down and he sees her all vulnerable which is completely different from how he used to see her?</p><p>And that's pretty much what I wrote. Because life may not be a wish granting factory but I am. (when it comes to Lucaya at least)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathers and Broken Chains

—————————-

It was all because Lucas lost his jacket. 

  
After all, he’d had a lot of fun with everybody at the park the other day, a day of ice cream, splashing each other with fountain water, and a lot of sun. And by the time he’d left the park the sun was just beginning to dip. The sun hadn’t even set fully by the time he’d walked Riley home, and it wasn’t until he passed through the threshold of his own house that he realized he’d misplaced the article of clothing his mother insisted he brought.

 

Which was immediately worrying because his mother had just bought him that jacket. In Texas. For quite a lot of money.

 

He was so  _dead_.

 

He was able to hide that he was missing his coat from his mother initially, because she was on the couch with his father when he came in and you couldn’t quite see the foyer from the living room. So Lucas just pretended to ruffle the coats already in the closet to make it seem like he was putting his back, shouted an excuse that he was tired into the other room, and ran up the stairs like death was on his heels.

 

Which it was. Because his mother was going to kill him.

 

First thing he did was text Farkle. 

”Hey, have you seen my jacket?” 

“Nope. Why?” 

“… I lost it?”

“Oh really? At the park? That’s unfortunate. You’re probably never getting that back.”

“…Thanks Farkle.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

And then, a few minutes later, as Lucas was frantically searching through his backpack, “Wait, maybe Zay grabbed it? He left after me.”

 

Texting Zay went like this. 

“Hey, have you seen my jacket?”

“No.”

 

Zay was the worst texter in the world.

 

Which led him to texting Riley. 

(”Oh, Lucas i’d love to help but i left with you. Maybe Maya picked it up? She left last.” 

“Yeah? Do you think you could convince her to bring it to your house tomorrow, so can come by and grab it?”

“Nuh uh, she’s busy tomorrow, but maybe she can get it to you monday?”

Lucas actually shuddered at the thought of waking up Monday morning without the jacket, of his mother’s wrath once she found that it wasn’t in the closet.

No. He needed it now.

“I kind of need it asap.”

“Why don’t you just ask Maya? Maybe she can bring it to you before she leaves tomorrow?”)

 

_Why don’t you just ask Maya?_

 

That was the million dollar question wasn’t it. Lucas’ fingers tightened around his phone briefly, his thumb hovering over the word ‘Clutterbucket’ on his touch screen. He hesitated for a long moment, before he took a sharp breath and quickly put the phone into sleep mode.

 

_Yeah, not doing that._

 

Next was Maya’s mother. But it’s not like he had her number of anything so he went to Topanga’s to visit her, ask her if she’d seen his jacket. When he first entered there, alone, and asked to speak with her, she cocked her head at him oddly for a moment, one hand balancing a tray of coffees and teas, the other perched on her hip. But as he explained the situation her smile was kind as she went around to tables and set down the appropriate drinks. Lucas followed her like a puppy as he described the coat.

 

“-It’s a green jacket, brass buttons and zipper, kind of canvas material -” Lucas rambled, and Mrs, Hart shook her head with a laugh.

 

“Yeah, I’ve seen it sweetheart. Maya brought it home yesterday.” She said kindly, and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.  _He would live to see another day._  “It’s at the house though, and Maya’s out today.”

 

Lucas’ eyes widened comically because he knew that but he was hoping to get around it because his mother was at the farmers market today and this was literally his only chance. Mrs. Hart must’ve noticed his fear because she snorted at his expression.

 

“But you seem like a good boy.” She said gently as she nudged him gently with her hip, setting a lukewarm coffee in front of a patron at a near by table. She smiled conspiratorially and winked at him as she turned to walk away. “Keys under the doormat. Don’t forget to jimmy the lock.”

 

Lucas had never felt so compelled to hug someone else’s Mama.

 

The walk to the Hart’s apartment from Topanga’s wasn’t too long, the key under the doormat was easy to find, and Lucas jimmied the lock as instructed. It wasn’t long before Lucas was opening the door to the Hart’s apartment, breathing in the scent of lemon cleaner and pine, and taking his shoes off at the threadbare mat. The Hart apartment was small, it had nicks on the walls from the previous patrons, cracks in the tiles from from before Maya was born, and a radiator that sounded like a dying raccoon. But it was so clean that it was minutes from sparkling, furnished with warm-toned comfy furniture, and had plenty of windows along the south facing wall to let the light in. Until this point Lucas had never been actually inside the building but it was nice and welcoming and he wouldn’t mind coming here again. After all, he was quite sure that Mrs. Hart liked him more than Mr. Mathew’s did, and the entire apartment here kind of made him feel like he was at home, even though it looked nothing like his own house.

 

Lucas took a moment to glance around before he remembered his reason for being here, (Maya, the jacket, my Mama, my life) and quickly scrambled to find the coat. It wasn’t long before he realized the issue here.

 

He saw Mrs. Hart. He knew the jacket was here. However he didn’t know where in her.

 

“Christ.” Lucas muttered as he banged his forehead lightly into a nearby wall. He allowed himself a moment to bask in his stupidity before jumping into action. He opened a door hoping for a closet and was confronted with a bathroom. 

 

This was basic foreshadowing for how the rest of his searching would go.

 

He found the closet and searched through that, and came up empty. He then tried to search through the living room but it was so clean that he could easily see that his coat was not there. He then catiously went down the single hallway of the apartment, opening the door to the left of the hall only to pop his head into a bedroom that screamed ‘MAMA’ which made him quickly close the door out of habit. Just because it wasn’t his Mama didn’t mean old habits died. Parent’s rooms were always off limits to him. 

 

He opened the door on the other side of the hall and stilled, blinking. He knew instantly, without doubt, that this was Maya Hart’s room. It wasn’t the colour of the walls (blue, her favorite colour, something Riley had told him passingly), or the combat boots on the floor near the scuffed desk, or even the art littering the walls. No, it was the feeling that Lucas instantly got the moment he stepped into it, the feeling that this room belonged to somebody important, somebody special. Somebody who was capable of incredible things. A force to be reckoned with.

 

Which was exactly the feeling that he got whenever he was in the presence of Maya.

 

Lucas stepped into the room slowly, eyes trailing over the art piece that Maya had pinned up above her desk. It was a piece made of feathers and broken chains, all glued onto a canvas and painted over in pastel colours. Lucas reached out to touch the feather nearest to him, fingers brushing over the soft surface, before the sound of a jangling lock startled him. He quickly dropped his hand, and his heart swooped in sudden nervous because -

 

Well.

 

There were a few reasons why he did not want to meet up with Maya for his coat. The first of which was odd, considering a lot of things.

 

He and Maya have never hung out without Riley and Farkle. I mean sure, there was that assignment last year, but then they had a goal to fulfill, something to talk about, and their game to play. It was easier when you had something to work towards, to do, to finish. Without that Lucas didn’t know what they would do.

 

Except he kind of did. Which brings him to reason number two.

 

Their game. He enjoyed it a lot more than he probably should considering that it mostly consisted of Maya making fun of him and then him making fun of himself. But he never really worried about how much he liked it, how much he enjoyed bantering with Maya because he always had Riley there to bring him back to the point of the conversation or Farkle to do something weird (or Riley to do something weird). He didn’t know where there game would go if he and Maya were just by themselves, with nothing to reel them back in, nothing to keep them from getting lost in it. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know to be honest.

 

And reason number three was just Maya herself. She was unpredictable, wild, and magnetic. Lucas didn’t trust himself not to get caught up in her energy if he had nothing else to anchor him, wasn’t sure what he would do. 

 

It was enough to make a guy go mad. 

 

But back to the present, the jangling door, and the short after slamming of it from the foyer. 

 

It could be Mrs. Hart.

 

Lucas heard the clacking of shoes hitting the ground, the thud of them perhaps hitting the wall.

 

He doubted it was Mrs. Hart.

 

Lucas glanced around the room around him, the articles of clothing scattered across the floor, the bright art on the walls, and the pictures of Riley and Mrs. Hart and the Mathews (and even Farkle) on the walls and had the sudden realization that maybe Maya would not be happy to have him in her room.

 

He briefly considered hiding, but scratched that idea as ridiculous. He heard a muffled sound from the foyer, something that resembled a slightly strangled sigh, and he frowned. He glanced up at the feathered art piece once more, before slowly stepping out from Maya’s bedroom, making his way down the hall silently in his socks. He stopped at the corner of the hallway before it turned into the foyer not entirely voluntarily as he caught sight of Maya in a baby blue dress, half her long hair pulled away from her face. 

 

Maya, wiping tears off her cheeks and looking at her mascara smudged hands in disgust.

 

“Maya?” Lucas asked softly and Maya’s head shot up suddenly, eyes wide, before her brows furrowed in confusion. Lucas took a step forward and nearly tripped on a white open toed heel, just then noticing that Maya was barefoot. He honestly can’t remember a time in which he had seen so much of Maya’s skin, which is an odd thought to have, but honestly he can’t. Maya sniffs quite loudly, shoving her blonde hair out of her face with her wrist.

 

“What are you doing here?” Maya asked and her voice is oddly steady, considering that Lucas is quite sure she’s been crying. Her eyes are red and her mascara is raccooning her blue eyes. She’s biting at her top lip but also glaring at him, and for some reason Lucas doesn’t know what to really say, even though he  _knows_ why he’s here.

 

There’s something about seeing Maya Hart crying that makes a guy speechless.

 

“Uh,” Lucas starts intelligently, and for some reason he juts a thumb behind him to point to the hallway her just came through. “My - My jacket?”

 

“”You broke into my house for your jacket?” Maya asked as her eyes narrowed further and Lucas quickly shook his head. 

 

“Your Mama told me where the key was…” But before Lucas can even finish the sentence Maya is pushing him out of the way, her baby blue dress swishing around her legs as she walks quickly towards her room. Lucas follows on automatic, watching as Maya storms into her bedroom, opens a closet and pulls his jacket from the floor of it. Her face is hard as she shoves the jacket into his chest, and she tilts her head and smiles at him bitterly before she slams the door in his face.

 

Lucas’ fingers tighten around the canvas fabric of his coat as he stares at the door in front of him, and his mouth opens and closes twice. He doesn’t really know what to do next. He has his jacket. His Mama won’t kill him. Everything should be okay.

 

But Lucas can’t find it in himself to just leave.

 

Maya swings the door back open an indecipherable amount of time later, and she almost barrels into him in her haste to move through the house. She jumps in surprise to see him still here, and Lucas can actually see her expression slowly hardening as she looks him up and down. She’s changed from the blue dress into a white over-sized Philadelphia Eagles t-shirt her previously intricate hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun.

 

“What?” Maya asks sharply and Lucas swallows hard.

 

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Lucas says slowly but it comes out dry and almost monotonous. Maya raises a brow.

 

“I’m fine Huckleberry.” Maya says slowly and Lucas shakes his head.

 

“You’re not fine. You were crying.” Lucas says softly and Maya looks at him oddly for a moment, looking genuinely confused before her expression hardens again.

 

“You tell anybody that and I will make your life hell.” Maya says automatically but the statement loses it’s heat the moment she sniffles. Somehow when she glares up at him, looking more tiny that usual in that enormous shirt, her big blue eyes red rimmed and framed by smudges, Lucas can’t find it in himself to be intimidated. Heck, right now Maya Hart looks like a small kitten trying to be fierce after they got soaked to the bone in cold water: sad, pitiable, trying to save face. Maya huffs when he doesn’t respond to her glare how she intended, shakes her head slowly, making her blond curls bounce around her face. Her eyes narrow further. “Why do you even care?”

 

“I care.” Lucas says gently, kind of surprised that she would think he didn’t. Maya snorts. 

 

“Ranger Rick, the only reason we hang out is because of Riley or school.” Maya says blatantly, and Lucas opens his mouth to argue with that but he can’t. They’re in the same friend group but Lucas isn’t sure that they’re friends, they hang out everyday but it’s always with some type of buffer. Lucas wants to say something though, he does, but he’s a little surprise by what comes out of his mouth.

 

“Who made you cry?” Lucas asks firmly, and Maya looks startled. Lucas looks over her then, her small stature, her tear streaked face, and suddenly it’s like seeings Zay in trouble, or hearing Farkle got bullied and he wants to protect her so damn bad. It all rushes into him so face that he’s a bit stunned by it, but that doesn’t make the anger boiling up in him any less hot. “Who?”

 

“Don’t worry about it Sundance -” Maya says as she starts to brush him off but Lucas is not having that.

 

“Maya, tell me who did it.” He suddenly remembers the blue dress, the white open-toed heels, the fancy hair style-

 

“Was it Josh?” Lucas asks heatedly, and the ‘i’ll kick his ass’ at the end of the statement is implied and from Maya’s widening eyes she could hear it. “Were you on a date or something, did he say something to you?”

 

“What?” Maya asks in confusion, brow furrowing. “No, Ranger-”

 

“Did he try and make you do something you didn’t want to do?” Lucas asks just as the thought runs through his mind and his anger flares red hot. 

 

“God, no, Lucas I just got ditched-” Maya explains with a shake of her blonde head and Lucas grits his teeth.

 

“He stood you up?” Lucas grinds out and he can feel his anger like a physical thing as his hands curl into fists. Riley’s Uncle or not Joshua Mathews better run-

 

“By my dad, Huckleberry!” Maya near shouts, and Lucas’ anger falters in his confusion.

 

“What?” He asks and Maya’s eyes are bright with something other than anger or passion or excitement for once, bright with tears and determination.

 

“I. Got ditched. By my Dad.” Maya says slowly and that’s it, that’s when Lucas’s anger dies, folds in on itself and disappears. Maya is trying to hard to look angry that Lucas’s heart aches, her eyes are so wet that when she blinks Lucas expects her tears to fall and is endlessly surprised by her strength when they don’t. “I was supposed to meet up with him today at the restaurant across the street. Him and his new family or whatever but…I waited there for a couple hours. No one showed up.”

 

“Maya-” Lucas starts and he doesn’t know where he’s going with that, doesn’t know how to continue, but Maya shakes her head, cuts him off anyways.

 

“It’s whatever.” Maya says lowly as her head dips slowly down, and Lucas’ heart might be breaking. “This happens to me all the time. I’m used to it.” She subtly wipes her wrist over her eyes. “Shouldn’ta got my hopes up.”

 

Lucas is silent for no more than a moment, watching Maya cry before he sighs.

 

“Don’t punch me.” He says, and Maya looks up at him in confusion for a second before he brings her into his arms, wraps them around her thing shoulders firmly, rests his chin on her head. Maya is stiff and still all over, hands at her sides, and it feels like she might also be holding her breath. Lucas sighs into her hair, smells the scent of peaches and cream and something warms and tilts his head to rest his cheek on top of it. 

 

“I’m sorry Maya.” he says simply, nothing else. He knows Maya doesn’t feel completely comfortable around him, knows that Riley would be best in this situation. He hugs her tighter and sighs, looking steadily at his jacket clutched in his hand behind her as he slowly feels her relax, feels her hands hesitantly fist the material at the back of his shirt as she wraps her arms around his torso. He doesn’t say a word about the wetness he feels on the fabric of his shirt as she cries, doesn’t mention her sniffles either. He just stays there with her, quiet and hugging her until she starts squirming, and at that point he pulls away, no questions asked. “So, you must be hungry.”

 

Maya blinks at him. She looks soft and sleepy, her hair mussed from when Lucas rested his head, her rumpled t-shirt falling down her shoulder. She is unguarded and kind of adorable and Lucas wants to protect so badly that he doesn’t quite understand. “What?”

 

“You didn’t eat right? You gotta be hungry.” Lucas says, leaving no room for question as he turns from her and heads to the kitchen he found on his search for his coat. In the few minutes he has before Maya comes after him Lucas texts Riley, tells her it’s an emergency to come to Maya’s house. He isn’t conceited enough to think that he’s all Maya needs right now, knows that her best friend is the only thing that can completely remedy the situation. Lucas is just the nurse here before the doctor get’s in, and he’s okay with that. His phone is back in his pocket and he’s taking out ingredients by the time that Maya steps into the kitchens archway. She doesn’t say anything though, so Lucas let’s her have her silence, at least until he starts pouring batter into the pan.

 

“Pancakes? Really Huckleberry?” Maya asks, and it almost matches up to her usual derision but it’s still a bit sad. However Lucas does catch a slight bit more warmth in her tone than he ever did before, and when he turns to her he finds her looking more curious than teasing. 

 

“They’re the only thing I know how to make.” Lucas says with a smile, and Maya raises a brow. You can sit if you want.”

 

“Mmm.” Maya says as she sits at the kitchen table, glancing over Lucas’ work with a critical eye. “And are you any good?”

 

“Only burn them two out of three times.”

 

“Wow, what a reigning endorsement.” Maya mumbles tonelessly and Lucas laughs, glad to have Maya picking on him for the first time ever. “So how do you make Huckleberry Pancakes?”

 

By the time he’s finished cooking, only burning two of the six pancakes (a record), Maya is doubled over the kitchen table, sleeping quietly despite the fact that Lucas had talked through the entire process (explaining his Mama’s recipe, detailing the first time he made them, and encouraging Maya to makes them too (”a pancake who makes pancakes!”)). Lucas huffs a laugh, lays the plate of pancakes beside Maya’s head, tilts his head as he watches her breath softly. She looks peaceful and sweet which is so misleading that Lucas wants to guffaw, but he doesn’t want to wake her. The need to protect is still rushing through his blood and it is that nothing else than makes him crouch by Maya’s side, that pushes him to lay a gentle hand on the top of Maya’s head, that compels him to brush a strand of hair away from her forehead.

 

“For a little short stack you deal with a lot huh?” Lucas murmurs gently, and Maya snuffles in reply, closed eyes fluttering. Lucas’ face softens and he leans in towards her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He whispers, “You don’t have to be so tough all the time.” into her ear conspiratorially and almost smiles to himself but then there’s the sound of the door jimmying and Lucas jumps away from her so fast it’s like she’s burned him. 

 

Maya doesn’t wake up though, and as Riley opens the door she blinks at the scene in front of her, smiles at Lucas brightly in thank. Lucas smiles back weakly and nods at her.

 

“She’s all yours.” He says and Riley thanks him, hugs him briefly before he goes out the door. Lucas walks all the way home, gets through the threshold and sees his mother before he realizes.

 

He forgot the damn jacket.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, I hope you liked the fic! If so please let me know either by commmenting or kudoing or even by dropping by my tumblr (http://rangerhuckleberry.tumblr.com/)to leave me a comment :) That is also where I take my prompts so feel free to head on over if you got any ideas!


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